


Ghosts in the Shadows

by Tarlan



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 22:56:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ezra had remained surprisingly quiet during their errand to deliver a prisoner for the Judge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts in the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DichotomyStudios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DichotomyStudios/gifts), [KiaCoral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiaCoral/gifts), [randi2204](https://archiveofourown.org/users/randi2204/gifts), [Kayim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayim/gifts).



> Written for **Mag7DayBook** Fandom Stockings - for Solosundance, Kiacoral, Randi2204, Kayim and Van

The ground was baked hard at this time of year so Chris was expecting to hear complaints from his riding companion, and yet Ezra had remained surprisingly quiet throughout the journey. Chris hadn't expected it to bother him as much as it did, having assumed he would be a bundle of frayed nerve endings ordering Ezra to shut up before he drew his gun and shot him. Instead, the silence was unnerving, making his skin itch at the back of his neck with that prickly sensation that came from knowing something was amiss.

Frequently, he had glanced across just to make sure Ezra was still with him, half-expecting to see Ezra's horse plodding along beside him with an empty saddle.

With the town still a few hours away and night approaching fast, Chris took in their surroundings and pulled on the rein, heading towards a stand of trees. Uneasy with the continued silence and Ezra's lack of complaint at the division of chores, he glanced towards Ezra often as they worked quickly to build a camp. By the time they had collected firewood, got a small campfire burning, and rolled out the bedding, it was past sundown. The heat of the day cooled only slightly once the sun dipped beneath the horizon, the air still hot and heavy, and Chris moved closer to the small fire only to stir the pot of beans before pouring himself another mug of bitter coffee.

"Not used to you being so quiet, Ezra."

"I have found myself in need of quiet reflection of late, Mr. Larabee. Hence my agreement to accompany you upon this tiresome errand."

"Quiet reflection," Chris murmured. "Never stopped you talking before," he added, perhaps a little unkindly, but he gained a soft laugh in response.

"Touche," Ezra murmured in return, raising his coffee mug and smiling, proving he'd taken no offense at Chris's bluntness.

Chris spooned beans onto a tin plate and handed it across to Ezra, lips twitching at the slightly dismayed look that crossed Ezra's face. He knew Ezra had become more than accustomed to the fancy meals served at the boarding house rather than eating trail rations. To tell the truth, Chris felt the same way these days but he hadn't planned on camping out along the trail when he offered to deliver the Judge's prisoner. Usually, they would have stopped for the night before heading back, but Jackson's Edge had been overcrowded with both local ranch hands and cowboys from two separate cattle drives arriving in town to spend their hard earned wages on women, gambling and whiskey.

The whores had taken every room at the hotel, plying their trade while the pickings were rich. Chris had turned away from the advances of several ladies bent on getting him into their bed for a few sweaty minutes or more, depending on what he was prepared to pay. If Ezra had shown any interest in starting up a poker game to relieve some of those hands of their cash then Chris might have been tempted to go find some pleasurable company of a different nature. It had been months since he had felt another man's hand or mouth wrapped around his cock, and longer still since he'd last had another warm body pressed against his.

He grimaced into the mug of coffee held to his lips. Last time around he'd slipped up, and Vin had seen him in the shadows behind the boarding house in Hasville with another man. When he tried to broach the subject the following day, Vin had simply glanced across from the saddle and said, "Ain't none of my business, Chris," and that had been the end of it. He'd never acted any different around Chris or mentioned it since.

Buck knew as well, but had never damned him for his interest in other men as well as women. Instead, Chris had damned himself for a time, believing the loss of Sarah and Adam was God's punishment for both his infidelity and his fornication with men. He had done both on that fateful night, easily persuaded by Buck to spend one more night away from his wife and child, to scratch an itch that Sarah had no means to relieve.

Learning that it was Ella Gaines who had sealed their fate had released him from that private hell, and just the memory of those nights he had lain with her until he learned of her insanity, had left him feeling cold from any woman's touch. He'd sought out men exclusively since that day.

With Ezra busy at the gambling tables, Chris would have taken a chance to seek out one of the men who waited in the shadows for those wanting more than a woman's touch. It was always a risk but the edge of danger just made it all the more exciting, heightening the pleasure, though Chris had often wondered what it would be like to lay down with another man freely. He had wondered what it would be like to take his time, to slowly map out the hard planes and angles of a man's body, to study the play of muscle as they moved together, and revel in another man's strength, holding him down naked and longing. He wondered what it felt like to be kissed by another man. Instead he'd had to stand fully-clothed in the deep shadows, braced against a wall while his imagination supplied what was hidden in the darkness, with only the fleeting glimpse of a man's hand or face to make him seem real rather than a ghostly figure.

It took a moment to realize that he and Ezra had both fallen back into silence, staring into the flicking flames of the fire. Though this would have felt companionable with Vin, Josiah or even Nathan, Chris felt the uneasy weight of that silence. He was used to Buck's long-winded stories of buxom women, J.D.'s youthful chatter... and Ezra's silver-tongued anecdotes.

Ezra produced a silver flask from the inside of his jacket and he poured a measure into his coffee cup before offering the same to Chris. With a pleased smile, Chris held out his tin cup; the whiskey improved the taste of the coffee.

"Mr. Larabee... Chris."

Chris glanced over, frowning when Ezra licked his lips, unusually stumbling for words when they came so naturally to him normally. He felt his body tense, wondering what could have Ezra so unsettled.

"Mr. Wilmington let slip something that is not of common knowledge concerning your good self. An... interest that we both share." Ezra took in a deep breath. "I am aware that you have... inclinations towards those of the same gender."

Chris froze, feeling something in his chest tighten.

"As do I," Ezra continued softer, as if afraid that he was taking too great a gamble with his words... and revelations.

Those words rolled over Chris now, and that tightness loosened as his fears ebbed with understanding. He stared hard at Ezra, easily reading the remaining fear in Ezra's eyes even in the limited light thrown off by the small campfire. There was a time when he had wondered if Ezra was a coward but he had put those fears to rest many years ago, trusting this man and five others to watch his back even in the thick of a gun battle. It took a moment to realize that he could trust Ezra with this secret too, aware that Buck would never have let this particular knowledge slip without full awareness of the consequences. He and Buck had been the best of friends for too long, protecting each other's secrets, to make such a mistake.

Ezra had found the courage to act on Buck's crafty words and Chris knew that the next move would be up to him. Being a man more favored towards actions than words, Chris swallowed the last of the whiskey-laced coffee and placed the empty cup on the ground. He waited until Ezra had done the same before reaching out, letting his hand slide across Ezra's cheek until his fingers were carding through the light brown hair, before drawing them both forward into a tentative brush of lips; his first passion-induced kiss with another man.

Ezra looked stunned, eyes wide and clear. He licked his lips, eyes dilating rapidly before dropping to Chris's mouth with undisguised desire.

When they leaned in again, Ezra needed no gentle persuasion this time, and Chris moaned as he was devoured by a hungry kiss, feeling the slow burn of arousal firing through his body. Clever, agile fingers slid beneath his clothing, nimbly opening buttons on shirt and undershirt until he could slide a warm hand across Chris's skin. Chris gasped at the unexpected pleasure. It had been far too long since he'd felt such intimacy of touch and the brush of a callused finger over one nipple sent desire shocking through him. His own hands became as busy, wanting to touch and explore, but they were thwarted by the layers of clothing. He gave a low growl of frustration that seemed to be echoed by Ezra, both of them parting to watch each other for a moment before Ezra began to undress slowly, first removing his cravat before slipping off his jacket. Mesmerized, Chris watched this unexpected strip-tease as Ezra laid each item of clothing aside until he was bare from the waist up.

He stopped and let Chris drink his fill of his exposed chest before grinning.

"You are entirely too dressed, Mr. Larabee."

Chris grinned, taking the hint, and quickly stripped down too, discarding his upper clothing with as much care as Ezra before reaching out to touch Ezra's firm, muscled chest. His fingers carded through the sparse hairs, palm splaying across the hard pectoral that felt so different from a woman's soft breast. The nipple was as sensitive though, and after seeing Ezra shudder in pleasure from just the flick of a finger, Chris leaned in, eager to taste and tease with lips and tongue. He felt his cock harden as the bud tightened beneath the onslaught, enjoying the delicious moans of pleasure and babble of words falling from Ezra, hearing his own name called desperately.

Chris wasn't aware of them easing backwards to lie stretched out on the bedroll covering the dusty ground, but he felt the nimble fingers teasing the buttons of his pants, only then noticing that Ezra's pants were already undone. It took only a moment to slide both the pants and undergarments down past Ezra's strong thighs, leaving Chris with his first real sight of another man's hard cock. Always in the past, he would be the one to feel the other man's lips upon him but now he ached to know what it was like to touch and taste. He leaned in slowly and lapped at the pearl of cum beading at the tip, tasting the bitterness and salt that could easily become addictive. He remembered what it felt like to feel another man's lips stretching around his cock, to feel that suction and touch the hollowed out cheeks as he was sucked into sweet oblivion, and he wanted to give this to Ezra.

His movements were clumsy from inexperience but Ezra's hands held him tight, and his soft words encouraged and directed.

"Slow. Yes. Just there. Just there."

He knew Ezra was close but the sudden spurt of bitter fluid still caught him off guard, and he pulled back before he gagged, finishing Ezra off by hand.

"My apologies. I..."

Chris drew himself up and kissed away the words, accepting the apology in kind as he shared the bitter taste with Ezra. He felt Ezra's hand wrap around him and it took only a few strokes before he was crying out his release, sagging in pleasurable exhaustion against Ezra's body. They kissed again - languid and sloppy - with hands sliding over sweat-slicked skin.

Eventually, they pulled apart only to settle down more comfortably onto the bedroll, with Chris unable to resist touching what had been denied to him for so long. All his former trysts seemed trite and insubstantial compared to what he had shared with Ezra this night, and he knew he could never go back to those ghost touches in dark shadows. He smiled and rested a possessive arm over Ezra's bare torso. The night was still young and there was plenty more that he wanted to experience before it was over. For now they both needed to rest and gather their strength, and as a companionable silence fell between them, Chris found his thoughts dwelling on a desperately wanted future in this man's arms, wondering how he might persuade Ezra to take this gamble on them.

"Ezra?"

"I am certain we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement for future pleasures.... Chris."

Chris laughed softly. finding his answer in Ezra's ten dollar words. "I bet we can."

END


End file.
